| GIF MAKING PROCESS | Art Direction, After Effects, Photoshop
CLIENT: Anyone viewing my portfolio
ROLE: Art Director, post production editor in After Effects and Photoshop
DELIVERABLES: 9 individual GIFs, less than 20mb each for quick load incorporation in portfolio website
PROCESS: In a world where so much of our interaction is virtual, I wanted an About Me page that not only described some of my talents but also felt like you got to know me a little bit in a fun way. Taking inspiration from my niece, I created a brief for this personal project and a plan of action. More details below.
PHOTOGRAPHER: Kenton Bradley
Inspiration
My niece + Fashion Plates
Meet my niece, my absolute favorite person on this planet! Our time together is never long enough and we are always busy with art projects, exploring nature, and playing. Here we are making cookies together, this is my favorite holiday tradition!
My sister, in a very nostalgic mood during one of my visits, surprised my niece with the new version of Fashion Plates, the original 80’s version was a childhood favorite of mine. All of those memories came rushing back as my niece smiled with joy as she proudly showed me her first creation. “WOW, that looks amazing! Would the artist consider displaying her art piece at my very exclusive Fridge Gallery?” “Sure Auntie Rae, just for you I will make it extra special!” [Cut to my heart melting].
Artists work prominently displayed at the Fridge Gallery in Seattle next to some earlier pieces. Image used with permission from artist.
As I watched my sweet niece slide the plastic pieces around, choosing the perfect combination, the idea for my About Me page was born.
Execution
Planning: I started to flush out this concept with a timeline and assets needed, making a working creative brief. From there I conceptualized the different outfits/personal qualities to highlight, styled them appropriately, acquired/created any necessary props, hired a photographer, and reserved a studio. Knowing the space, I added in additional time for post production to extend the background.
Shooting: Lighting setup + check with photographer, 8 wardrobe changes, equipment tear down, and over 1000 images captured condensed into 2 hours in-studio with a few minutes left over for an after shoot snack. I am usually behind the camera not in front, so all my choreographed movements for each GIF were practiced many times before shoot date to ensure we got through everything within our studio time. As I watched the tethered monitor, there was of course a healthy amount of laughter and a few “Ummm lets try that last one again please.”
Post Production: All images had to be edited and backgrounds extended in Photoshop. Then edited photos were taken into After Effects to construct the individual GIFs. Due to timeline, I was not able to acquire a t-shirt that included the Seattle skyline for the Seattlite GIF, so additional time was needed to create the graphic and manually add it to each image in the GIF.
Like with any good project there are limitations; be it time, finances, or technical constraints. For this project, it was keeping the final GIFs under 20MB and retaining image quality. In the initial stages of planning, I researched what file types were supported and how I could display them based on what my online portfolio supported (this is why I went with GIFs instead of MP4s). Even so, reducing the GIF sizes took a bit of finesse and included purchasing a plugin to fine tune the output for image quality.
And voilà, an opening page that has a bit of personality!